Everything you Ever Wanted to Know about Banana Bread.

I remember being a little girl going over to my my great grandma Owens' house and her having a loaf of her delicious banana bread on the stove cooling. It was, by far, the BEST banana bread I have ever eaten.. (PS, if anyone has her recipe I would like it, please!)

Over the years I've tried many different recipes. I've hit a couple of good ones. I tried a new one today and it was really good. More Cakey than fluffy bread, but still good. I got it from Kraft.com. It was chocolate chunk banana bread but you could easily leave the chocolate out if that isn't your thing:

what you need
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. CALUMET Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped PLANTERS Walnuts
Make It
PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl; set aside. Stir eggs, bananas, oil and milk in large bowl until well blended. Add dry ingredients; stir just until moistened. Stir in chopped chocolate and walnuts.

POUR into greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.

BAKE 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Cut into 18 (1/2-inch-thick) slices to serve.



Now..Some tricks: I just used reg. chocolate chips, tasted fine. In my 2nd batch I put about 1/2 a cup as a whole cup was too much.

Also, to get the best taste you need -nasty- bananas. All black, mushy. It will be the grossest thing you have ever seen but to get the correct flavor that is what you have to strive for. I let mine get nasty black and then freeze them. The day before I use them I thaw them out, peel them and put them in a lg. Ziplock bag. Then when it comes time to mush them (or whats left to mush, yes, so black that there isn't much left to mush) you just gotta squeeze the bag a few times. I always use more banana than the recipe calls for but I like a nice strong flavor.

#3: DO NOT..I repeat...DO NOT over mix your batter. It leads to thick, heavy, yucky bread. You just need to mix it until it's barely mixed. No beaters, no wisk.. Think old school...Wooden spoon.


And finally: After my bread is done I let it cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then I take some saran wrap, dump the bread out of the pan and wrap it in the saran until it's FULLY cooled! That helps keep the moisture in the bread. It's a trick I learned when doing another banana bread recipe and now I use it for all.


Enjoy!